Organization of work with confidential documents..
Organization of work with confidential documents.
Source — users.g.ua
Establishing the procedure for classified office work.
When working to protect commercial secrets, it is necessary to pay special attention to the company's documents, since most commercial structures in our country store the main volumes of commercial information, including confidential information, in documents. The head of the company must properly organize the processes of recording secret information in business papers and organize their movement in such a way that the theft of confidential documents would be so difficult that it would become economically disadvantageous for the thief.
When working with documents containing information protected by the company, it is necessary to follow certain rules. This provides significant guarantees of reliable protection of commercial secrets and puts a barrier to information leakage.
These rules are as follows:
1) strict control (personally or through the security service) over personnel access to classified documents;
2) precise determination of who specifically from the management and employees of the company organizes and controls the company's classified office work, vesting them with the appropriate powers;
3) development of instructions (memos) on working with classified documents, familiarization of the relevant employees of the company with them;
4) control over the acceptance by relevant employees of written obligations to maintain the company's commercial secrets;
5) introduction of a system of material and other incentives for company employees who have access to its secrets;
6) introduction into everyday practice of mechanisms and technologies for protecting the company's commercial secrets;
7) personal control by the head of the company of the internal security service and secret office work.
The probability of leakage of secret information from documents is especially high during their transfer. It is obvious that commercial structures do not have the opportunity to use the services of military field communications. For this reason, the delivery of secret documents and valuables must be organized by one's own efforts, with the involvement of company security guards, or contact those companies that provide such services for a fee.
Employees of the company responsible for the safety, use and timely destruction of classified documents must be protected from the temptation of trading in company secrets in a simple but radical way — good payment for their work. In the process of storing and sending classified company documents, means of protection and signaling of unauthorized access to them can be used.
One of the new products is an invisible light-sensitive coating applied to documents, which can appear under the influence of light, thereby indicating the fact of unauthorized familiarization with the documents or their photography.
Electronics are also used for these purposes. At the All-Union Seminar on Commercial Information Protection, held in Moscow in the summer of 1991, the Alliance company's stand demonstrated a simple electronic device the size of a pack of cigarettes, manufactured in one of the countries of Southeast Asia. The device is called the Home Detective, costs only 10 US dollars and reacts to light. It is enough to turn on the device and place it somewhere in a safe, under papers on a desk, in its drawers within 20 seconds and you will have a reliable electronic guard at your disposal. It is triggered by a weak beam of light and emits a piercing sound signal. At the customer's request, the company supplies «Home Detective» with a radio transmitter that switches on other security systems and external alarms at a considerable distance.
Specialists in commercial information security issues are also aware of other technologies and systems for protecting confidential company documents from unauthorized access or possible leakage of protected information. For information on this issue, please contact organizations and services that specifically deal with this problem. Methods of maintaining confidential office work. To maintain confidential office work, people who have undergone a special check and whose honesty is beyond doubt should be involved. In addition, these people should be properly prepared and trained, since professional shortcomings and deviations from the rules in their work can cost the company too much.
Premises where classified documents are handled must be well guarded, and access to these premises must be closed to unauthorized persons. Premises where classified documents are stored must have strong ceilings and walls, a reinforced metal door, strong window frames with double glazing and bars, and thick curtains that prevent the premises from being viewed from the street. The storage of classified documents must be equipped with a security and fire alarm system and carefully guarded by internal security forces. Access to the storage must be strictly limited. It is not recommended to locate such premises on the first and last floors of the building, because This simplifies unauthorized access to it. Secret documents are stored in safes or fireproof metal cabinets with reliable locks and bolts.
There are various principles of secret office work aimed at preventing leakage of commercial secrets contained in documents. For example, documents containing commercial secrets are divided according to the level of secrecy of the information reflected in them and are provided with the corresponding classification classification. In the Armed Forces of the country, for example, the following classification classifications exist for documents: «SECRET», «TOP SECRET» and «OF SPECIAL IMPORTANCE». In addition, there is a «FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY» (FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY) stamp, which is placed on documents that are not classified but contain information, the disclosure of which would be undesirable.
The practice of maintaining classified records in commercial structures shows that for the proper division of information according to the level of secrecy contained in documents, it is quite sufficient to introduce three classifications: «FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY», «SECRET» and «TOP SECRET» (or similar ones, for example: «OFFICIAL INFORMATION», «CONFIDENTIAL» and «STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL»).
Let's consider the methodology for maintaining classified records based on these three classifications. First of all, it should be noted that a classified document (i.e. with the classifications «SECRET» and «TOP SECRET») should already differ in appearance from a non-classified one.
The cover of each such document should contain the following information:
1. A classification mark is placed in the upper right corner (for this purpose, it is proposed to make stamps with the corresponding classification marks).
2. The inventory number of the document is placed under it, which is recorded in the PERSONAL ACCOUNT BOOK.
3. If the document has a classification mark «TOP SECRET», it is recommended to draw a red line in ink from the upper right corner of the cover to the lower left to give the document a more significant appearance.
The title page of a classified document must contain a duplicate of the classification marking and inventory number found on the cover. This is done in case the cover of the document suddenly comes off.
The pages of a classified document are numbered and stitched with a strong thread, the ends of which are sealed with tissue paper with the seal «FOR DOCUMENTS» imprinted on it (it is recommended that such a seal be specially made so as not to constantly resort to the main company seal).
The following inscription must be made on the last page of the document:
This document contains numbered and laced _________ sheets. _____________________________ (signature of the responsible person)
There are cases when individual classified sheets are placed in a special folder, which cannot be laced. In this case, a register is placed (pasted) into the folder, which takes into account all the classified sheets in the folder. Each sheet receives a classification stamp and its own inventory number, which is noted in the register in the form:
¦ inventory. N classification secret. name date and signature of seizure ¦
The folder itself receives a classification no lower than the most secret sheet in it and its own inventory number, which is recorded in the Personal Accounts book.
Drafts of the company's secret documents must be prepared in notebooks with numbered sheets. After the documents have been prepared «fairly» the drafts must be destroyed by authorized employees. The number of copies of the company's secret documents must be strictly accounted for, and copying machines must be equipped with a copy counter and a key to start the machines. Carbon paper and ink ribbon of typewriters are the subject of special care, since secret information can be removed from them. Therefore, used carbon paper and ribbon are destroyed under the supervision of responsible persons.
All secret and top secret documents must be accounted for in the Personal Account Book. The book consists of the following sections:
¦ inv. No name Grip sec. number of sheets date of receipt signature date of seizure signature¦
If a company has several branches, then each of them has its own book of Personal Accounts, and in the main Secret part of the company — Personal Accounts for each of the branches. As a result, it turns out that the company has one Main Book of Personal Accounts and a couple of additional ones for each branch.
The Personal Account Book for a branch, located in the Main Secret Part of the company, must be ABSOLUTELY IDENTICAL to the Personal Account Book remaining in this branch. This makes it possible to control the movement of classified documents between the branch and the company's headquarters as precisely as possible. The Personal Account Book, as a rule, has the stamp «SECRET». This is due to the fact that only mentioning somewhere or recording only the name of top secret documents already in itself contains classified information. The Personal Account Book for a branch is recorded in the General Ledger of Personal Accounts, and the General Ledger is itself under inv. N 1. Documents marked «FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY» may also be taken into account in a special book according to the principle set out above, but not together with secret and top secret documents.
The company's management may issue secret orders that concern a certain contingent of employees and should not be known to everyone else. To distinguish such orders from non-secret ones, it is recommended to put «O» before the order number if the order is secret, and «OO» if the order is top secret (for example: N O14; N OO56-P). Such orders are recorded according to the rules established for documents with the corresponding classification markings. The same principle can be used to distinguish secret agreements from non-secret ones.
Sometimes in practice commercial structures have to deal with the need to classify not only documents, but also any products. Accounting and work with classified products is based on the same principle as with classified documents, with the only difference being that it is necessary to provide a system for sealing the product so as to prevent unauthorized entry into the product and familiarization with its internal structure. Seals are also recommended for safes and doors of the classified section at the end of the working day. Classified documents are issued only to persons authorized to work with these documents. It is advisable to introduce permits for working with classified documents within the company.
For example, in the army, clearance No. 3 corresponds to the right to work with documents marked «SECRET», clearance No. 2 — with documents marked «TOP SECRET», clearance No. 1 — with documents marked «OF SPECIAL IMPORTANCE». Working with DSP documents does not require special clearance. An employee with clearance No. 3 does not have the right to use top secret and special importance documents, and an employee with clearance No. 2 is not allowed to access special importance documents.
The clearance system allows for maximum limitation of the circle of people familiar with the company's secrets. The clearance number is determined by the length of service in the company of this employee and the degree of trust in him on the part of the management. All secret documents are issued only against signature. It is advisable to create a card for each document in the form:
stamp_______________ number of sheets _________ inventory N _____________ (document name)______________
¦ date of issue subscription date of return subscription
Ordinary employees of the company are issued classified documents only for the duration of the working day. At the end of the working day, all classified documents must be returned to the Secret Section (storage) of the company.
Declassification of documents occurs either by order of the company's management, or after a certain period of time by lowering the level of secrecy and assigning a lower classification. Establishing control over publications.
Even the most carefully guarded secrets of a company can become known to competitors through regular publications for the general public if left to their own devices. Therefore, one of the company's employees must be vested with the broadest possible powers to engage in preliminary censorship of brochures, advertisements, press releases and other materials for symposia, exhibitions, congresses, as well as speeches, scientific and other publications of the company's employees.
The interests of protecting the company's secrets in the overwhelming majority of cases are in difficult-to-resolve conflict with the personal ambitions, self-esteem, and academic independence of the company's employees, who wish to professionally assert themselves in the academic world, among their colleagues, and in public or group opinion. No less easy to resolve is the conflict between the desire to preserve the company's commercial secrets and the desire to use some of the most impressive data from strictly protected information for advertising purposes, especially those that would undoubtedly help expand the sales of manufactured goods and services.
An employee censoring open publications of an advertising, scientific and popularizing nature, prepared by the company's staff or by its orders, must be guided by a simple but quite effective rule. Its essence is to SPLIT, SEPARATE IN TIME, SPACE AND BY AUTHORS TO THE MAXIMUM POSSIBLE EXTENT THAT STRICTLY PROTECTED COMMERCIAL INFORMATION, without which the publication of the above-mentioned works is impossible. Of course, all this complicates the implementation of research and development work by the company's personnel, but it significantly hinders the collection of secret information about the company by competitors and ill-wishers. This barrier can be overcome only by means of very large expenses.